Fourthly, several dispute-resolution service providers are working on the development of on-line systems for administering dispute resolution, as well as courts in a number of countries. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Arbitration and Mediation Centre has developed such an on-line system, which is Internet-based. Digital communication tools have been designed to allow the parties to file requests by completing electronic forms and to exchange information on-line through secure channels. The parties and the decision-maker are able to communicate electronically also through audio and video facilities, where these are available to them. The system also includes such functions as automatic notifications, an electronic fee system, secure facilities for the on-line exchange and reading of documents, and back-end databases to support the logging and archiving of submissions.
In fact, some organizations have already tried to conduct arbitration or similar procedures online. The WIPO recommended using on-line facilities to conduct the administrative dispute-resolution procedure on the domain name disputes. Based on the WIPO's recommendation, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has approved four dispute-resolution service providers to conduct online dispute-resolution procedures.
What should online arbitration be?
To conduct arbitration online, the international commercial arbitration institutions should first adopt special online arbitration rules and develop online systems. All the arbitration institutions adopt similar arbitration rules. It needs to amend the existing rule slightly to conduct the online arbitration. Most of the modification should be concentrated on communication rules.
In our opinion, at the beginning stage of an arbitration case, the basic communication procedure should be as follows:
1. the complainant submits its complaint to arbitration institution through e-mail or other electronic forms;
2. the arbitration institution creates a sub-system (or channel) for this case in particular and nominate a case administrator, only the case administrator is entitled to enter the system and communicate with the parties and the arbitrators;
3. the case administrator informs the complainant and the respondent the system address and entry password, forward the
complaint to the respondent;
4. the parties select the arbitrators according to the arbitration rule, and the arbitration institution sets up the panel to
hear the case;
5.the administrator informs the arbitrators the system address and entry password.
Thus, the parties and the arbitrators can send documents to the special system of the arbitration institution, and the arbitration institution can send or forward relevant documents to them. But the parties should not communicate with the arbitrators directly. It shall be the responsibility of the sender to retain records of the fact and circumstances of sending, which shall be available for inspection by affected parties and for reporting purposes